


Who Knows You

by Keenir



Category: Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, does this qualify as a fix-it?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-16
Updated: 2013-07-16
Packaged: 2017-12-20 06:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/884043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Loki died, one person took the time to walk the worlds and inform his friends, his family, and his enemies.  This is her story:  the walk of Sif.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Starks, and Hel

**Author's Note:**

> _"You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies."_  
>  \--the 7th Doctor to Ace McShane; Doctor Who episode Remembrance of the Daleks.
> 
>  
> 
> This was originally just a vague idea puttering around in my mind...then I read [Into the Dark](http://archiveofourown.org/works/460681) by Murdur, and my idea grew into a mewling shapeshifter. (go read Into the Dark!)

"You are certain?" 

"I am, Odin Allfather," _Borsson, King Of All Nine Worlds..._ Sif thought after her answer, going through all of Odin's titles and accepted names. "I will go and gather the remembrances." 

"I could send another." 

"Any other, my Lord, my King, would view this as a task to accomplish." 

"You see it as more, Tyrsdottir?" 

Sif did not bristle, did not deign to reply to that - she had been baited by the best, and mocked and teased by the worst. Compared to all of those, Odin was distinctly subpar. "I am more than the others are, my King," was all Sif said. 

"See that you are. Go," Odin said, dismissing her. 

**~~~**  
 **Stark Residence, ~~classified location~~ , California, USA, Midgard:**

"You're Sif?" Tony Stark asked when she got off the elevator. 

"Yes," she said. 

"Right. Nice to finally put a face to the name - nice face, by the way - and Thor says hi, but he didn't really explain what you wanted here. If it's me, I'm in a committed relationship; fair warning." 

"You knew Loki." 

"Seriously? Seriously, that's why you came all the way - Jarvis, how far'd she come?" 

"According to my reference materials, sir, she resides on a world known as Asgard." 

"And that's how far as the crow flies?" Stark asked. 

"Your crows or Odin's?" Sif asked. 

"I believe she made a joke, sir," Jarvis said. 

"Really? Really?" Tony asked, first to Jarvis, then to Sif. 

"No. Odin's are faster," Sif said. "I am here to ask you to tell me about him." 

"What, that he was a lunatic who led an alien invasion? Would've thought Thor might've mentioned that." 

Controlling her breathing was normally easy in times of battle; this, however, was not battle. "Your personal experience of him," Sif said, placing a hand on Tony's arm. 

"Sure, I can do that, but remember what I said abou- ow - ow, ow, ow," Stark said. When Sif lightened her touch, "Okay, point made. Jarvis, remind me not to insult her brother-in-law-ow-ow,ow,ow." 

Jarvis said, "The SHIELD files do mention, sir, that the question was already put to Thor, and he stated that he has never been married to Sif." 

"Okay, so I missed a spot," Tony said. "I was more focused on the team dynamic stuff, you know." 

"Of course, sir." 

To Sif, Tony said, "Mind if we sit? Not sure my arm will survive otherwise. Maybe I should put on some armor, just in case?" 

"I came to hear about Loki. Not listen to myths," Sif warned as she sat down on the sofa across from Tony and Pepper...and sank into the sofa. "Speak." 

"Woof," Tony said. "Okay," with a clap of his hands. "Loki. Got it. Sense of theater, of timing and knowing just what buttons to push, and when." 

_I could have told you that,_ Sif mused. 

"He was definately great with a bat - if we had a baseball team, I might pull some strings and get him on our team." 

"That won't be possible," Sif stated. 

"What, nobody gets out of Asgard Prison?" 

"Only once," Sif said with a tone that prompted - 

"I'm sorry," Pepper said. 

"Um, me too, what's - wait, what? He's - he's dead?" Tony said, going from automatic to catching up to not quite gobsmacked. 

"That is why I'm here," Sif said. 

"He was a great conversationalist, he loved puzzles - particularly when he was the one dropping hints to see how long it took us to catch up," Tony said. "He would've made a great Avenger." 

Sif looked at Tony. 

"That's our team name. Not the most original thing, I know, but accurate in-" 

"Thor has spoken at great length about your crew," she said. "That is how I knew you could speak of Loki." 

"Huh. Well remind me to thank him, okay?" Tony said, a bit to Sif, but mostly to Pepper, who nodded. To Sif, "And I'm serious about Loki on the team. Sure he's not always the best team player -" 

_I fought alongside him, ourselves part of a team, for the better part of a millenium_ , Sif reflected. 

"-but then again," hands pointing in at himself, "neither was I. Pepper, that's not nice." 

"I was nodding," Pepper said. 

"With more enthusiasm than was warranted," Tony said. 

"Speaking of, should we ask Jarvis to display your warrants and other elements of paperwork that show just how much of a team player you weren't?" 

"No, no, I don't think that'll be neccessary. If that's all, oh gosh, would you look at the time," Tony said, and Jarvis helpfully displayed a clock on every flat surface in the room. "Everyone's a comedian, eh? So, is there anything I can do to help? Loan you one of my jets? Offer to speak at his funeral?" 

"You have already spoken on his behalf," Sif said, standing up, which impressed Tony - he'd seen people get stuck in sofas after sinking even an eighth as deeply in. "And I have my own transport." 

"You do?" 

Sif nodded. "My brother is picking me up." 

"As an only child, I've only witnessed things like that," Tony said. As he walked her to the door, Tony said, "Now don't get me wrong, if I'd run into him a few years ago... Not sure which of us would've thrown the bigger parties." 

"Um, Tony," Pepper said, pointing to the workroom. 

"Of for the love of all thats - I got to fly," Tony said to Sif. As he ran to the workroom, he could be heard yelling "Jarvis, you were supposed to be watching them!" 

"You also informed me to not interfere with their Special Projects, sir," was Jarvis' reply. 

On her way out, Pepper confided to Sif, "If they'd met before Tony reformed himself and became Iron Man, I don't think it would have survived." 

"Their meeting?" Sif asked. 

"The planet." 

**~~~**

**Hel's Residence, Niflheim:**

Unfailingly, the first word she heard upon landing on the stone just in front of the regal palace - or regal for Niflheim - was the same that found her ears on every visit: 

"SIF!" as Hel ran out as fast as her limp let her, wrapping her arms around Sif. Breaking free to stand before Sif, her entire body at attention, barely even parade rest. 

"This isn't one of those visits, Hel," Sif said. "No training today." 

"Oh," as Hel untensed. But she never relaxed. 

There were days Sif wondered if the girl _could_ relax. _And this won't help._ "It concerns your father," Sif said.

"He is dead," Hel said.

 _There was the chance word hadn't reached down here. Silly me._ Sif didn't say 'I'm sorry' because the phrase had never made much sense around here - _Either one must use it until it is ground into useless dust, or one must refrain from using it, instead choosing better words._

"Please, come inside," Hel said, though there was little lavishness to the interior either, it did at least have the advantage of having no view on the outside world once the door was closed. Niflheim was the one place in the cosmos where Sif did not break into a cold sweat when inside a building with one door and no windows.

Taking a seat in their respective chairs - Hel had no thrones except, by formality sake, whatever chair she was sitting in - Sif said, "He had a good death."

"I'm glad," Hel said. Sighing, the limp tissues of half her face hung like mourning drapes. "There is no point to anything anymore, is there?"

"There is always a point," Sif said. _I never really hammered that home to you, though; unlike my trainers, I didn't think it would help much around here - I feared depression taking you._

"Of course. But the prophecies have proven more hollow with rot than anything I rule -- Baldur still lives, while Father is dead. My brothers were awaiting the opportunity to fight alongside him. Now..."

For some, prophecies were a weight to live your live under. _But they were a salve and a comfort for you and your brothers... that this too shall end, that your family would be reunited._

Hel **tsk** ed as best she could with muscle control on only half her face. "But you did not come for my wails of unfairness. You want to know what I remember of Father."

"Whenever you like. Wail to your heart's content as well."

"I fear I would not be able to stop," Hel said. "Odin made me queen of this World for all the time until this World ends. What could end my mourning if I started?"

_Explains why her eyes are always tearless, as well._

"I never knew my father," Hel said. "Beyond as a mountainous shadow of warmth and love. I remember a scream - it wasn't just me screaming. Wasn't just my brothers either. Can I let them know? I'll pass on any messages to you."

Sif nodded.

"I was removed from his care when I was but an infant, and placed upon this throne. You were more a parent to me than anyone else was," Hel said to Sif.

 _That's just sad,_ to say the least. _I stopped by to give her training tips. Not that Odin would have ever let her out of here so she could become a shieldmaiden, but it was fun,_ Sif thought. _For me, it was a little time I didn't mind taking out of my schedule. For her...Mirmir's Well, was that the high point of her childhood and adolescence?_

"Nearly all of what I know of my Father, I know from what you have said and left unspoken. I owe you everything, for what you told me of him, and for your time with me. I would raise an army if you so wish it."

"I appreciate that, Hel, but not today," Sif said. _Sure, it would be useful in revenging ourselves against Loki's death. But I am Tyrsdottir, and Odin still looks at my father with suspicion, even after he sacrificed a hand for the safety of the Nine Worlds; and as my father's daughter, I am viewed with just as much caution by Odin as enthusiasm by Thor._ And she wasn't sure what she would do if Hel offered to have her brother return Tyr's hand.

"There will be rightness in the cosmos," Hel muttered.

"The wrongness shall be undone," Sif said, finishing the line from training. "But that will be in its own time."

Hel nodded. "But for now..." she knew.

"Yes."

"Then there is naught else I can say of my Father which is not heresay. So instead I will give you someone who can speak at more length than I of he."

"A citizen here?" Sif asked.

"Only of late and briefly even by the mayfly standards of Midgard. His name is Phil Coulsson."

"I do not know him," _and have only heard a mention of him in passing from Pepper Potts as I departed the Tower._

"During his time of madness, in the midst of that adventure, Father placed a transporter marker on Phil Coulsson before they tried to kill one another. Rather half-heartedly, in my opinion." 

Sif nodded. If there was anything Hel had learned over the centuries, it was how to tell when someone was going through the motions of killing, and when someone had their heart in it. 

"Coulsson has something to say regarding Father," Hel said, and knew not what else to say to Sif in this visit. 

"Thank you," Sif said. "For this, and for all else." 

"Where will you go next?" Hel inquired.


	2. Frigga, and Heimdall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whose confession will be more surprising - that of the Allmother's, or that of the Watchman?

Sif trudged the long voyage from the Bifrost station up to the palace.

Her ears were not the only part of her which was weary of the inanities and all else bawled and spewed by the humans, the dwarves, the assorted elves. The bright moments had been few and far between - Selvig's 'while I was under the Tesseract's power, I was still myself enough to leave a way to shut it off - Loki gave signs that he was much the same' and Coulson's 'he could have shut us down at any time, knocked us from the sky and made us watch, ragged and disparate, as the invasion took place - but he unified the Avengers just as much as I did...I had a good death scene, I like to think' - and it was finally complete.

The palace doors were opened for her, matter of course, and closed behind her when she finally finished coming indoors. "Lady Sif!" an errand girl shouted, running up to her, then kneeling before her when she'd finally reached Sif.

"Stand," Sif said. _Unless there has been a coupe, I have no title here beyond what has been extended to me._ "Yes?"

"Lady Sif, the Allmother Queen Frigga wishes an audience comprised of you."

 _??_ was all Sif could think. _Just me and myself alone?_ "Take me there."

The errand girl complied, winding their way through the lesser-used corridors of Asgard, and refusing to provide her name. At last they reached the stately doors of Queen Frigga's westward suite, and the doors opened for them. The girl did not go inside. _Me alone,_ Sif recalled, stepping inside. The doors closed of their own accord, much as they had opened.

"Thank you for coming," Frigga said from her throne - this room had one of her lesser thrones, and Sif was unsure if that was signifigant now.

"You summoned me," Sif said, bringing herself to kneel, even after all her traveling, all her walking and climbing and voyaging from World to world to World...

"Because your work is not yet completed."

For once not caring if her words doth offend, half-thinking it would reunite her with Loki, and half beyond thought, "I have spoken to all of Loki's allies, friends, foes, and enemies."

"Not _all_ of them," Queen Frigga said.

Sif looked up at her, words burning a hole in the fog clouding Sif's mind.

"Oh yes, I was once Loki's enemy as well. You know Loki was brought here in wartime, yes? My husband brought him here, and I hated him on sight - even when Odin cast a camoflage spell on him that lasted for so many years. It was perhaps not rational or considered, but it was mine, and I own it," Frigga said.

"Why...?" Sif tried asking, but did not know how to ask it. Wasn't entirely sure or certain what she wanted to ask.

Frigga laughed. "There are so many valid questions beginning from that humble word, Sif, that I scarcely know which to answer first. I will answer in the order I think best."

Sif nodded mutely.

"Why did I hate Loki in those early days? Because he was not mine. And, more importantly, because I viewed him as Odin giving up on me, on any hope of my providing him an heir."

"But you did, Allmother. You gave Him the son Thor," Sif said.

"I did not," Frigga said. "Nor did any of the Allfather's dalliances. Come closer, Sif."

Sif pulled knuckled closer, not changing the position of anywhere in her body. Frigga sighed, but didn't bother correcting Sif - she knew the folly of that.

_If you did not bear Thor, then..._

"Towards the end of his life, Loki began to glimpse that he was not Odin's son. More than that, he came to see what his true origin was," Frigga said. "What he failed to understand was that it made him no more illegitimate than Thor."

"Even if he is not Odinson, Thor is still Aesir," Sif said.

"Thor is Vanir."

Dimly, a corner of her mind made the connections - thunder and lightning were securely part of nature, which had always been the field the Vanir preferred to specialize their powers in. Sif started to open her mouth when -

" _You_ are Aesir," Frigga said.

"I am Tyrsdottir," Sif said firmly.

"Yes. I am aware of that. It is a fact I know even better than Odin does."

 _Please don't tell me you're my mother,_ thought Sif with a sobering note of alarm.

"Your heritage is a part of why Odin favored you with a place in the ranks of those who will succeed him. Do you know much of the War?" Frigga asked. "Beyond what the minstrels prefer to caterwaul and the bards' preferred eddas, I mean."

"I know the histories, Allmother," Sif said. "I can recite the sequence of battles and their signifigances, the rolls of those who died and of those who were wounded."

She nodded, as if this was limited and also understandable. "In the early years of the War, it was as much Aesir against Jotun as it was Aesir against Vanir," Frigga said. "Odin made peace with the lord of the Vanir, and they brought their forces down upon Jotunheim, where the Vanir lost their king. It could as easily have been a different alliance, and the Allfather knew it. That is why he later declared you one of his heirs, alongside the two boys he had brought here. Not for marriage, neccessarily, rid yourself of that thought, girl. More so the three of you would not see one another as foreign and incomprehensible and think it easy to go to war."

Frigga shook her head and **tsk** ed. "But you were asking about Loki, and here I am, distracted like a young man."

Sif tried not to grin at that, and failed utterly, even loosing an amused snort into the room.

And Frigga took no umbrage at that, even smiled a little in return. "I think so too," the Allmother confided. "Before Loki uttered his first word, I had made my peace with him. I knew what he was, beyond the flesh he had been born into and the flesh Odin had wrapped about him. I knew what Loki was, and what he was - was mine: I and I alone brought him up where it counted, shaping his mind and attitudes...just as I did with Thor when Odin brought him into my care."

She could have asked 'and did Thor enjoy the same period of hate as Loki had?', but her heart was not in it. At least not today; she stored the fact away alongside all the other things she had heard in her voyages. What she did say was, "Thank you, Allmother, for telling me this. For confiding in me," feeling that what she had just heard, was not for public ears, at least not yet.

"You are welcome," Frigga said, at once graciously replying, and also implicitly dismissing her from the room.

**~~~**

**Bifrost station, Asgard:**

"Heimdall," Sif said. _I could have spoken to him sooner, even broken it up between my visits to all the Worlds. But no, I opted for this._

Her massive brother remained as silent as the -- _No, not letting my thoughts go in that direction today,_ Sif resolved.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Sif asked.

Heimdall hesitated before answering her with, "I have my duty."

Sif narrowed her eyes at him. "Its because we're Tyrkinder, isn't it? You fear a single word could cost you your place?"

No hesitation: "No."

She stood there, as implacable and immovable as her brother. Finally, after at least an hour of this standoff, Sif turned and began to leave.

"Loki was always struggling," Heimdall said, his tone telling her _I see all that occurs, and I did nothing for it._

 _Don't blame yourself,_ Sif thought and inserted that into her voice as she told him, "I know."


End file.
